(1521)–The Lutheran Movement Guide

Home , Anointing of the Sick

UPDATED: August 25, 2019

TRIPLE CRISIS PROTESTANT REFORMATION (1521)– THE LUTHERAN MOVEMENT GUIDE TRITONMUN XX – OCTOBER 26TH, 2019

MODEL UNITED NATIONS AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO

BACKGROUND GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS

Head Chair Letter…………………………………………………………………………… 2

Vice Chair Letter…………………………………………………………………………… 3

Position Paper Guidelines …………………………………………………………………. 4

Key Terms………………. …………………………………………………………………. 6

Historical Context………...………………………………………………………………… 9

The Catholic Church……………..……...………………………………………………. 6

The Holy Roman Empire…………….……...………………………………………… 10

The Holy Roman Empire & the Benelux.……...………………………………………… 11

The Indulgences Debate………….………...……………………………………………. 15

Martin Luther’s Journey...………………...………………………………………………… 16

Where We are Now………………...……………………………………………………. 16

Questions to Consider…………....……….………………………………………………… 18

Suggested Sites.……………….……………………………………………………………. 18

LETTER FROM THE HEAD CHAIR

Greetings and welcome delegates, My name is Thomas S. Cooney and I will be your head chair for TritonMUN XX. This committee takes place at a critical time in the history of Europe, and a critical time in the history of Christianity. The interactions between the Church, the Estates, and the various sections of German society create a dynamic and intriguing setting for our triple JCC. Delegates in this committee will have to balance their commitments to their faith, the well being of the nation, and the practical realities of life at the time. In order to succeed in this committee, delegates are strongly encouraged to think as their characters thought, and try and put themselves in the mindset of early Protestant reformers. Delegates should be knowledgeable of their characters individual motivations and context, and not act on 21st century norms or ideals. The most successful delegates will not only be creative within the constraints of the time period, but also give the most convincing portrayal of the character they represent. With regards to your chair, I am a senior at UCSD, pursuing a Bachelor’s in International Studies simultaneously with a Master’s in International Affairs at UCSD’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. I have been in Model UN since fall of last year when I transferred to UCSD; this is my third Triton MUN and my first one as a head chair. I usually compete as a crisis delegate on our collegiate travel team, so if you have any questions about collegiate MUN or crisis committees generally, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. The same goes for any questions you might have about committee (I heartily encourage you to email me about this), your characters, research, college life, grad school, or anything else I am qualified to answer. I wish you luck on your research and preparation (or lack there of as is usually the case when I compete), and can’t wait to see you all in committee.

Sincerely, Thomas S. Cooney Head Chair, Protestant Reformation| [email protected]

LETTER FROM THE VICE CHAIR

Hello!

My name is Griffen Dempsey, and I’m looking forward to being your vice chair for the

Lutheran Movement in the Protestant Reformation triple joint crisis committee. I’m a third-year

student at UC San Diego, majoring in Urban Studies and Planning with a minor in photography.

I’ve been staffing TritonMUN for two years as the conference photographer, but this is my first

time being on the dais. I’ve experienced a number of crisis committees and general assemblies as

a travel delegate for the UCSD collegiate team, and am excited to help provide all of you with as

fun and engaging an experience as I’ve had. This committee will be exciting and dynamic,

putting each of you into a unique role in a pivotal time in the history of Christianity. The fate of

the Church is in your hands; I trust that together you will be able to outwit the forces of Pope Leo

X and the Holy Roman Emperor to bring about a more pure form of faith.

Griffen Dempsey

Vice Chair, Protestant Reformation | [email protected]

POSITION PAPER GUIDELINES

TRIPLE CRISIS – PROTESTANT REFORMATION (1521)

THE LUTHERAN MOVEMENT

POSITION PAPER GOOGLE FORM LINK:

https://tinyurl.com/positionppr-lutheranmoveHISTORICAL CONTEXT

TRITONMUN POSITION PAPER GUIDELINES • Position Papers are due at 11:59 PM on October 14, 2019 o Requests for extensions must be sent by the advisor to TritonMUN by October 7th. • Position Papers can be submitted by one of two ways: 1. The Google Form link listed at the beginning of your Background Guide (The Advisor Logistics Packet has a Google Form link that can be used by advisors) 2. Email to: [email protected] o Note: It is highly preferable that delegates submit their Paper using the Google Form, the email is available in case of technological problems and for those without a Google Account. Additionally, all Position Papers submitted after the deadline (this includes extensions) must be submitted by a Google Form. • For committees with one topic (all Fall Committees) there should be two pages for the topic with an additional page for citations, for a total of 3 pages. • Papers should be single-spaced in Times New Roman 12 pt. font and include no pictures. • Please include the following sections for each committee topic: o Background o Past Actions by the Committee o Position of your Country/Person o Possible Solutions • At the top of each paper, include your country/person, name, committee, and topic.

KEY TERMS:

• Plenary Indulgences - A practice in which individuals could purchase certificates from

the Catholic church in exchange for a promise of reduced punishment for sins in

purgatory.

• Seven Sacraments - Practices that were endowed by Jesus to the Church that all

Christians practiced and that the lives of people in the 1500s lives revolved around.

• Confirmation: Initiation into adulthood/full membership in the Church, strengthening

baptismal promises, vow to be a warrior of Christ; occurs once in a person’s life.

• Holy Orders: The process of becoming a bishop, priest, or deacon, also called

ordination. Religious significance various by position.

• Penance and Reconciliation: Process by which sins are forgiven, and people return to

full communion with the Church, a cycle that occurred for some weekly and others

monthly. If caught in the cycle without completion the parishioner would end up in

Purgatory.

• Anointing of the Sick (formerly Last Rites): Blessing those in poor health to hope for a

recovery, or those who could/will die as a preparation for death. Usually just occurs once

in a lifetime.

• “95 Theses” - Document written by Theologian Martin Luther in 1517 as an argument

against certain practices of the church.

• The Pope - The top of the hierarchy of the Catholic church, supervisor of all religious

activities, and charged with the most important decision making.

• Archbishops - One step down below the pope, each controls a particular archdiocese,

and directs all of the bishops within that region.

• Archdiocese - A region under the guidance of a single archbishop (See Map on pg. ).

• Bishop - One step below an Archbishop, responsible for leading a diocese and directing

all priests in said diocese.

• Diocese - A district under the guidance of a single bishop. Multiple diocese form an

archdiocese.

• Tithe -Required payment of 10% of earnings to the church from members, in the form of

money or grain.

• Relics - Officially sanctioned items by the Catholic church, often sold to wealthy

individuals as a means of raising church revenues1.

• Elective Succession - A system of succession in which a group of electors, typically

selected from title holders and nobility within the realm, select the next in the line of

succession upon the death of the monarch. Candidates for selection are often restricted to

family members within the ruling noble family.

• Republic - A system of governance in which decision making for the state is done by a

collective, as opposed to a single figure. In the 15th century, often times this took the

form of a collective of wealthy individuals/oligarchs making decisions for the state

(Example-The Republic of Venice).

• Feudal H.R.E Land - Land that is held by the Holy Roman Emperor and given to

vassals through a contract.

• Allodial H.R.E Land - Land that is not held by the Emperor in the H.R.E.

1 https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-counter-reformation/the-roman-catholic-church-in-1500/

• H.R.E Sovereignty - The ability within the Holy Roman Empire to collect taxes,

dispense justice, mint coins, exploit mines, have knights in their service and call them to

war, etc.2

• Princes of the Holy Roman Empire - Title holders within the Holy Roman Empire

whom hold sovereignty and are able to independently administer their territory.

2 http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/structure-of-the-holy-roman-empire.html

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

In the years following the end of Constantine’s reign over the Byzantine, Christianity began a steady spread throughout Europe3. Christianity developed into the religion of empires unified under the Catholic Church. However, due to its inability to completely control and regulate other smaller churches, practices differed. Eventually this led to division of early

Christians, as some practiced traditionally Greek practices and others Roman. The division became permanent through the Great Schism, in which Roman practitioners were represented in the Catholic Church and Greek practitioners in the Eastern Orthodox church.

Both of these sects still found direct connection with divinity, as they still arose from one of Christ’s Apostles. The Churches remained in communication with one another for about a century, as they agreed on many core doctrinal issues. However, there were some issues that the

Churches could not reconcile, including Filioque (which changes the main creed of the Church for those in the Roman sect), the Primacy of the Papacy, and other various issues which led to their mutual excommunication and permanent split in 10544. This rift set Western Europe apart as a territory under the Catholic Church directly under the throne of St. Peter. By the time of the schism, the Papacy developed a strong relationship with the ruling family of the Holy Roman

Empire, which dominated a large part of the continent. This helped further establish the Papacy’s political power in Western Europe5. The Papacy was also very well established in significant

3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/christianityromanempire_article_01.shtml 4 https://www.britannica.com/event/East-West-Schism-1054. 5 Wilson, Peter H. The Holy Roman Empire: a Thousand Years of Europe's History. Allen Lane, an Imprint of Penguin Books, 2016.

portions of the Italian Peninsula called the Papal States, which were a gift from Pepin, Father of

Charlemagne the first Holy Roman Emperor6.

The relationship between the Church and the people was mostly symbiotic; the people

donated money and land to the church, and in turn the church provided services, religious and

otherwise, for the people7. As long as the church had the unwavering support of the people, it

was near unstoppable. The Catholic Church held the power to “determine” who went to Heaven

and who didn’t, as well as the ability to interpret the word of God and the criteria for entering

Heaven. The Gutenberg Printing Press had only been invented in 1450, and only just begun to

print out Bibles. Prior to this point, the only bibles being produced were those painstakingly hand

copied by monks8. As such, very few members of the public owned their own copy of the Bible,

instead relying on their church to have one. On top of this, literacy in Europe was already

incredibly low, but even those Bibles people had access to weren’t even written in the more

commonly read German, but rather in Latin9. This way, even if people had personal access to the

Bible, they still required a Latin-literate translator to read it to them. Of course, the church often

took up this task. In order to increase its power, the church would read and translate the Bible to

the people of Europe, changing parts to read however the church leadership wanted10. Catholic

priests also told churchgoers that only the priests held a direct connection between mortals and

God himself. Furthermore, the church controlled most of the important aspects of one's life.

Birth, death, marriage, communion, everything happened at the church. With all of this, the

Catholic Church was able to rapidly seize control of every aspect of society11.

6 https://www.britannica.com/place/Papal-States. 7 https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/schools/ks3/reformation 8 https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press 9 https://brewminate.com/the-growth-of-literacy-in-western-europe-from-1500-to-1800/ 10 https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-counter-reformation/the-roman-catholic-church-in-1500 11 https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/schools/ks3/reformation

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE:

The Holy Roman Empire had direct rule over all of what is modern Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and partially over France, Italy, Poland, Denmark, and

Belgium. It was a diverse and decentralized state, with a government structure that was unique for its time. Upon the death of an emperor, succession was determined by a select few Electors: the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne represented religious interests, while the Count

Palatine of the Rhine, King of Bohemia, Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Brandenburg12 formed the remaining secular portion of the body. From 1453 and 1740, these electors favored members of the elite Habsburg monarchy of Austria, meaning that all the Emperors through this period descended from the Habsburg lines13.

While the Holy Roman Empire had its standard domain of rule, there were also some states which were not directly in their domain but held certain obligations to the empire. Austria,

Spain, the Netherlands, along with the feudal states that belonged to electors and a set of Free

12 http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/prince-elector-of-the-holy-roman-empire.html 13 https://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/hre.htm#Qualifications

Imperial cities directly owned by the emperor were required to pay taxes as well as defend the

empire in times of need14. However, there were times that even these two obligations fell through

and the Empire’s authority in these states was nearly nonexistent. With Charles V’s ascension to

the throne in 1519, renewed efforts were made to consolidate power and build a unified empire.

He believed this to only be possible under a single, unified religion. This would prove not to be a

simple task.

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE & THE BENELUX:

As previously mentioned, the structure of the Holy Roman Empire was much different, and more

complex, than the typical late-Medieval kingdom. Where a kingdom was organized in a

straightforward hierarchical structure, the political structure of the H.R.E was much more

complicated. Firstly, the H.R.E was organized into 10 administrative circles; Swabia, Bavaria,

Upper Saxony, Lower Saxony, Westphalia, Austria, Rhine, Saxony, and Burgundy15 (see second

map below for a diagram of these circles). Each of these circles acted as common defense points

in relation to the collection of taxation, as well as in mustering defensive forces.

One other key facet of the political structure of the H.R.E was that it was an Elective

Monarchy, in which the successor was selected by a specific group of electors. These electors were

comprised of the Archbishop of Mainz, the Archbishop of Trier, and the Archbishop of Cologne,

the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Saxony, and the Margrave of

Brandenburg16. These figures were responsible for electing the next emperor of the H.R.E in times

of a succession. By the 16th century, these electors did act increasingly in a rubber stamp capacity,

14 https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/Imperial-reform 15 http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/structure-of-the-holy-roman-empire.html 16 http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/prince-elector-of-the-holy-roman-empire.html

12 largely confirming the selected heir within the house of Hapsburg, but they are still important to recognize, given their increased prestige and status within the H.R.E.

As to the specific political situation of the Holy Roman Empire in 1521, the rule of King

Charles V had just begun. Being selected as the successor for his grandfather, Emperor Maxmillian

I who died in 1519, Charles V came to inherit the Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile (all of Spain),

as well as holding the region of Burgundy, in addition to his Emperorship of the Holy Roman

Empire. A devout Catholic and a close ally of Pope Leo X, Charles V fought throughout his life

for the preservation of the Holy Roman Empire. Diplomatically, he was quite hostile with French

Monarch Francis I, due in large part to wars fought over claims to land in Northern Italy.

Additionally, Charles V was hostile with Sultan Sulieman the Great of the Ottoman Empire, due

to religious differences, and Ottoman expansion into Europe. In terms of allies, Charles V was

friendly with Henry VIII, due to the English Monarch’s still intact marriage to the emperor’s aunt,

Catharine of Aragon. Internally, Charles V is closer to some of the noble families within the

territory of Burgundy, due to his own historical ties to the region. As for personal possessions of

the Hapsburg family, the red and grey area below should illustrate the family holdings within the

H.R.E in 1521.

Figure 1Map of lower level titles personally held by the Hapsburg Family

THE INDULGENCES DEBATE:

Two years prior to the election of Charles V, a young priest and theologian named Martin

Luther put forth a challenge to the established faith, attaching 95 points of debate on the practice of indulgences to the door of a Catholic church in Wittenberg. Indulgences were a common practice of the era, defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as

“a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already

been forgiven, which faithful Christians who is duly disposed gains under certain

prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of

redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of

Christ and Saints.”17

In essence, a Christian who had confessed to a sin could pay to get their sin removed, allowing them to escape the torture of Purgatory. The Catholic Church was already seen as corrupt by a large number of the people due to a number of unholy acts by past popes. Many saw indulgences as a continuation of this corruption and a distraction from the true mission of the Church. In addition to these grievances, the final provocation that pushed Luther to post his theses was the preaching of Johann Tetzel, a seller of indulgences known for his exuberant marketing that went beyond the bounds of Catholic doctrine18. Tetzel preached that even the unrepentant could be absolved by indulgences, and that the best way to ensure a dead family member made it to heaven was to buy indulgences. Tetzel’s revenue from indulgence sales went towards the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the debts of Tetzel’s superior, the Archbishop of

Mainz19.

17 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P4G.HTM 18 https://reformation500.csl.edu/bio/johannes-tetzel/ 19 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Tetzel

Luther’s theses decried the church's decision to sell indulgences as fraudulent, offensive,

and unnecessary. He also challenged the Pope’s ability to free people of sin, claiming the Pope

can only free people from punishment he administered. Finally, he questioned why the Pope

would need money from the people to build the Basilica when he was rich enough to fund it

himself20. This obviously was seen as a direct challenge to the papal authority, and in many ways

it was.

Luther also claimed that the common conception of purgatory was false. Based on his

reading of the Bible, there was no clear evidence of what happened to a soul between death and

Heaven. Again, this was a direct challenge to the pope’s legitimacy as Pope Leo X claimed

purgatory was real to sell indulgences. Martin Luther had effectively poked the beehive and

stirred great controversy within the Catholic Church, and thus Europe as a whole.

Luther’s 95 Theses were intended to merely spark a discussion and encourage someone to

debate him on the issues he raised. While a debate would come, it was an action unknown to him

that would spread the spark of the reformation. The printing press had been invented nearly fifty

years earlier, and printers had been struggling to find the kind of content that would get them off

the ground. The controversy associated with Luther’s work was a perfect match, and his ideas

spread like wildfire through print media. Soon, Luther had become a sort of celebrity in his time.

20 https://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html

MARTIN LUTHER’S JOURNEY

WHERE WE ARE NOW

Martin Luther grew up in a wealthy family in the

Holy Roman Empire (modern day Germany). As a child,

Luther's family moved to Mansfield where his father

served in the local government on what is essentially a

city council21. Seeking a similar life for his child, his

family sent Martin to law school at the University of

Erfurt. On July 2nd, 1505 lighting struck Martin as he was heading home. As he lay on the ground in fear he begged for salvation and life. Legend has it he cried out “St. Anne help me! I will become a monk.”22 After he survived, he held true to his promise. Martin enrolled in the Monastery of Erfurt only days later and devoted his life to the worship of God. This moment forever changed the world as a whole.

His intelligence, ability to read and translate, and his independent thought set him apart from the other monks in the monastery. Although he was a devout Catholic, he quickly grew to believe that Catholicism wasn’t about a worship of the Church but rather a worship of

God alone.

In 1518, after he had posted his theses, Luther was called to be questioned by Cardinal

Cajetan, the first of many times he would be asked to recant his views. Instead of recanting, however, Luther doubled down on his ideas that the Church’s actions should be based firmly in the Scripture. He made these views publicly clear in a debate against Johann Eck, a theologian in

21 https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/martin-luther 22 https://www.luther.de/en/blitz.html

support of the Catholic Church, in Leipzig, an event that led to claims by the Church that Luther

was a heretic. Subsequently, Pope Leo X attempted to censor Luther and threatened

excommunication in his papal bull (an official public decree issued by the Papacy), Exsurge

Domine, in 1520. Charles V, attempting to promote consolidation and religious unity, had no

choice but to deal with the division that Luther had spurred in his empire, and called him to the

Diet of Worms in 1521, which was a hearing meant only to hear Luther recant in response to the

papal bull. Luther attended, but once again did not recant his views, a choice that many thought

would lead him to be burned at the stake. However, Charles V granted that Luther be allowed to

leave safely. In the following days the Diet had to determine what to do with Luther. Not seeking

to be cruel or evil, they allowed him a short period of time for safe passage back to his home in

Wittenberg. Shortly after Worms his work was declared illegal, he was declared an outlaw, and

once his travel time was up, he was to be hunted and handed over to the Empire. During his

travel home Luther’s Prince established a fake kidnapping so that Luther could be taken into

hiding without incriminating his Prince

Here our committee begins. Luther is hidden within the walls of Wartburg Castle, still

trying to spread the word of God and fight the corruption of the Catholic Church. Significant

obstacles lay in the path to salvation—the Church is bent on treating Luther as a heretic, and he

and his followers risk being burned at the stake. Can Luther and the reformists outwit the corrupt

machinations of the Pope and bring a purer form of spirituality to Western Europe?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

1. Should the Reformation align itself with the peasantry or reject their rebellions?

2. Can the debate be won on religious terms, or should the Reformation take a more

political line, attacking the worldly power of the Pope?

3. How can Martin Luther be kept safe from execution?

4. Should the Reformation attempt to resolve issues with the Catholic Church peacefully, or

has that time passed?

5. Can help be found outside of the HRE? If so, from where? If outside help is acquired, can

the Reformation avoid becoming pawns to foreign interests?

SUGGESTED SITES

• https://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html

• http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/prince-elector-of-the-holy-roman-

empire.html

• https://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/hre.htm#Qualifications

• https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/schools/ks3/reformation

• https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/martin-luther

• Wilson, Peter H. The Holy Roman Empire: a Thousand Years of Europe's History. Allen

Lane, an Imprint of Penguin Books, 2016.